Today, Wayne County District Attorney Patrick L. Robinson announced the arrest of Alexander Soto, 20, from Lakeville, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Soto is charged with 33 counts of Sexual Abuse of Children for possession of child pornography. All of the charges are graded as a felony 3rd degree. This arrest was the result of an investigation by County Detectives from the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office into the possession of child pornography.
On August 29, 2017, County Detectives from the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office received a report that between February 26, 2017 and August 10, 2017, someone uploaded 16 files of apparent child pornography through the use of Dropbox.com, a personal cloud storage service that is frequently used for file sharing and collaboration. That person, using the screen name of Alex Soto, used 3 different internet protocol (IP) addresses to access the internet. A second report was received on February 27, 2018 stating that between August 19, 2017 and November 21, 2017, the same person uploaded 14 files of apparent child pornography through the use of Dropbox.com. The investigation revealed that one of the IP addresses were registered to a person that resided on Purdytown Turnpike in Lakeville, Paupack Township, Wayne County, PA. One of the residents listed there was an Alexander Soto.
On May 10, 2018, a search warrant was served at Soto’s residence. Subsequent search warrants were served on several cell phones that were seized from Alexander Soto. As a result of the search warrants, it appeared that Soto was accessing Dropbox.com through one of his cell phones. Search warrants were served on Dropbox.com for 2 accounts that Soto had access to. As a result of those search warrants, approximately 250 photographs and videos of suspected child pornography were discovered.
Criminal charges were approved by Wayne County District Attorney Patrick L. Robinson and an arrest warrant was issued by Magisterial District Judge Carney.
On August 15, 2018, Soto was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Carney on 33 counts of Sexual Abuse of Children for possession of child pornography. All of the charges are graded as a felony 3rd degree. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled in the near future.
The filing of criminal charges is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the Commonwealth against a defendant. A charged Defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the Commonwealth has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant enters a guilty plea to the charges.
